This invention relates to apparatus for lifting and moving a person confined to a bed and transferring the person from the bed to another support device. The invention also relates to auxiliary apparatus for bathing the patient, and caring for the patients other sanitary needs.
The needs to lift, move, bathe, care for sanitary needs, and transfer invalids and other persons confined to a bed with temporary or permanent loss of mobility are well known. Lifting a helpless bed patient from the surface of a bed permits the changing of sheets and bed clothing and eases bathing and tending to the sanitary needs of the patient. Moving a patient is needed when a patient contacts the head or foot of the bed or comes to close to the edge of the bed and danger of falling is apt to occur. Manual lifting and moving of a bed patient are physically strenuous labor for nurses, aides and others responsible for the care of the patient. It often results in injury to the back and other body parts of the person doing the lifting and/or moving of the patient. These injuries to nurses, aides and others resulted in time lost from the job and greatly increased health care costs. Transferring a patient from bed to stretcher to operating table and back again is also stressful for the patient.
Most medical personnel who are trained to care for bed patients use a draw sheet upon which a patient rests to help in turning the patient. By pulling on one side of the draw sheet, the nurse or aide can ease turning the patient with least physical contact with the patient. The act of pulling on the patient with a draw sheet is strenuous, especially when the patient is heavy, and injuries to the nurse or aide may still occur.
The need for mechanical means for lifting, turning and transferring a bed patient has long been recognized and various devices for performing the lifting, moving or transferring of a bed patient are known.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,509 of Simmons et al., 1981, discloses a portable apparatus to enable a wheel chair invalid to be transferred onto and out of a bed or chair, comprising an overhead track extending over the bed or chair supported by a tripod with telescoping legs at each end, and a wheeled carriage that rides on the track. The wheeled carriage is equipped with a winch and rope tackle that hooks onto a flexible fabric sling in which the invalid sits. Activating the winch raises the sling dear of the wheel chair and the wheeled carriage is moved over the bed or chair. The sling is then lowered to the bed or chair and disconnected from the tackle. The apparatus can be broken down in sections, the tripod legs telescoped and folded, and all parts placed in an automobile trunk for transport or storage in a small space.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,453 of Sefton, 1982, shows a device for lifting a patient from his hospital bed and placing the patient on a wheeled transfer unit. The patients bed sheet is used as the principle lifting medium. The transfer unit can be loaded and unloaded from either side. The operation can be done by one person. Support arms are extended from the stretcher to the patient lying in bed. The arms support clamping bars that can securely grasp the patient's bed sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,122 of Sanders et al, 1985, discloses an apparatus for at least partially lifting a patient from a bed or a wheelchair. The apparatus includes a support frame having upright supports and an overhead member, a patient sling designed to support the patient at places other than the patients's normal bed sore contact points, and a mechanism attached to the overhead support for vertically lifting the sling and patient. The support frame can be mounted to the wheelchair or bed frame or it can be free standing. The lifting mechanism can be either power driven or manually operated. The manual lifting mechanism may include an eccentrically mounted roller about which is wrapped a lifting line. A bed patient sling includes a pair of relatively stiff sides preferably shaped to conform to the lateral sides of the patient. A number of body support straps attached to the sides support the patient's body at points other than at the contact points between the patient's body and the bed. The sides are separated by adjustable, removable separator bars to keep the sling from squeezing the patient being lifted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,665 of Cockel et al, 1989 discloses a patient comfort and convenience for use in conjunction with a hospital bed having a mattress between a spaced headboard and footboard and a mechanized drive for raising and lowering the mattress. There is a first support structure disposed between the footboard and the mattress, the first support structure of spaced vertical first members disposed at respective ones of a pair of foot comers of the mattress. There is also a second support structure disposed between the headboard and the mattress, the second support structure including a pair of spaced vertical second members disposed at respective ones of a pair of head corners of the mattress. A pair of rigid side rails are disposed between respective ones of the first and second members along and above upper side edges of the mattress. A fabric sling is disposed between the side rails. Preferably, the side rails are releasably attached to the tops of the vertical members and there are additionally supporting devices on wheels as, for example, a gurney cart, an ambulance stretcher, and a wheelchair to allow the patient to be maintained in the device from pickup to hospital room. The side rails each include opposed, lockable, pivoting joints whereby the side rails can be bent into a chair shape or permit the patient to sit up. There is a controller for controlling the mattress and the sling in combination through steps allowing patient turning, etc. The sling is made of a porous, non-absorbent plastic :material and there is a drain pan for placement on the mattress to catch water passing through the sling so the patient can be bathed. The sling also has a closable centrally located hole positioned under the genital area of a patient in a sling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,955 discloses a device for moving a patient. The device has a support adapted to receive the body of the patient, a trolley comprising motor actuating cables connected to the support for lifting the support loaded with the patients body vertically then for translating it horizontally, at least one rail for translation over which the trolley moves: wherein on the one hand, the support, adapted to receive the patient's body, is constituted by a supple cloth, in one piece, comprising at least three successive distinct parts: a first part adapted to receive and to maintain the patient's head, a second part adapted to receive and to maintain the patient's body, a third part adapted to receive and to maintain the patient's legs and wherein, on the other hand, the trolley mobile over at least one rail comprises: a first pair of cables connected to the first part of the support, a second pair of cables connected to the third part of the support, a first, so-called lifting motor for controlling the movement of lifting and lowering of these two pairs of cables, and a second, so-called translation motor for controlling the action of horizontal translation of this trolley.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,325 of Tesch, 1989, discloses a patient positioning apparatus comprising a hoist and pulley assembly suspended on a frame above a bed, and connectable through adjustable straps and damping means to a sling which is positioned under the patient. When a rope connected to the hoist and pulleys is actuated by the patient or a person beside the bed, the patient is moved from either the foot of the bed toward the head of the bed or from the side of the bed toward the center of the bed. A rope gripping means is provided to clamp the rope and suspend the patient in an elevated position above the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,840 of Asakawa et al, 1991, discloses a frame containing a hoisting assembly for a hammock suspended by lines. The frame is positioned over a bed and a person is placed in the hammock. A pair of drums are provided in the hoisting assembly so that the lines may be wound or unwound on the drums to raise of lower the hammock. Once the person is lifted, the hoisting assemble is horizontally movable so that the person may be maneuvered away from the bed and positioned in an upright sitting position over a urinal, bath or chair. The lifting and maneuvering procedure may be reversed so that the person is repositioned over the bed and returned to a substantially horizontal position by reversing the hoist direction of the drums.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,895 of Gagne et al, 1993, discloses apparatus for lifting patients which includes a base frame, a wheel assembly affixed to said base frame for transporting the latter over a support surface, vertically oriented guide posts affixed to said base frame, a carriage assembly slidably coupled to said guide posts, actuator means for moving said carriage along said guide posts in response to operator applied control signals, an arm member projecting out from said carriage having a patient support attachment coupled at a distal end thereof, and a motor for operating said actuator.